AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Richmond County deputies responded to more than 900 mental health calls last year, a nearly 30 percent increase compared to 2023, according to dispatch records.
Major Robert Silas, who oversees Special Operations at the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, said law enforcement has become a default response when the mental health system has no room.
“Mental health is our biggest challenge,” Silas said.
‘Nowhere to go’
When someone in crisis is turned away from an emergency room or cannot be placed in a treatment facility, deputies are often the ones left to respond.
“Law enforcement is often the first to encounter folks that are unsheltered,” Silas said.
At the Charles Webster Detention Center, more than half of the inmate population is living with mental illness. Silas said some arrive not from the streets, but from other institutions.
“We have had them come here from prison… they are brought here and dropped off,” Silas said.
Hurricane, COVID cited as factors
Silas said major events in recent years have contributed to the rise in people experiencing mental health crises.
“We’ve had these things — the hurricane, COVID stuff — take place and people that were borderline or trying to do better fell victim to other things and it’s taken a toll on a lot of folks and they haven’t been able to recover,” Silas said.
Parolees dropped in Augusta
When investigators first began examining Augusta’s growing homeless population in 2021, records from Pardons and Paroles showed Greyhound dropped off more than 100 parolees in Augusta.
“We are the medical hub of the Southeast… but end of the day the hospitals don’t have the treatment that’s needed — most of it mental health stuff,” Silas said.
A personal connection
The work is personal for Silas. He said he lost his brother a few years ago — homeless and living in a tent.
“That’s where he died at… so I have experienced this firsthand,” Silas said.
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